


Denouement

by Von_Karma



Category: Persona 5, Persona Series
Genre: Angst, Character Death, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Self-Esteem Issues, mostly just hurt tbh, vent fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-31
Updated: 2019-03-31
Packaged: 2019-12-29 01:17:32
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,406
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18297422
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Von_Karma/pseuds/Von_Karma
Summary: The engine room scene rewritten.





	Denouement

**Author's Note:**

> I love Akechi so much but he suffers anytime I write about him for some reason.

A flash of blue light erupted before Akechi’s eyes. He barely had any time to react to it before it had completely enveloped him. The pain exploded inside of his head, it felt like something chewing through his skull from the inside out. His body twisted and contorted, muscles spasming. Nausea and vertigo hit him all at once and his legs suddenly gave out. It took a few seconds for him to register the fact that he was lying face down on the floor, cheek pressed against the cold metal.

The adrenaline and excitement of the fight had worn off, leaving him completely drained of all energy. All his movements were so sluggish. He… He had really lost, huh? How was that possible? He had never been defeated before even when he had just started. Heh, the one fight that really mattered had to be the one he lost. How… unfortunate. 

He pressed his hands onto the floor in front of him for support as he climbed to his knees, far too unstable and hurt to stand. 

“Are you ready to call it quits?” Ryuji asked.

“I know,” Akechi replied breathily, “I’ve had enough… You’re so lucky. Lucky to be surrounded by teammates who acknowledge you. And once Shido confesses his crimes, you’ll all be heroes. As for me, people will find out my past deductions were just charade. My fame and trust will vanish.”

“I see. So you were turning people psychotic, then solving the cases yourself. And you did that by joining forces with Shido,” Morgana said.

He nodded weakly. There was nothing he could do to make that better now. He had no explanation for himself. “In the end, I couldn’t be special.”

“Dude… You’re more than special,” Ryuji blurted out causing Akechi to look up. That was the last thing he would have expected him to say.

Makoto nodded in agreement. “It pains me to admit but your wit and strength far exceed ours. We only defeated you by teaming up. I was honestly… envious of your natural ability. It was frustrating to see how much my sister trusted you.”

“I have no intention of forgiving you for what you did to my father but… I sympathize with you,” Haru added, “I wholeheartedly understand wanting to get back at the adults who took from you.”

“But when you gained the power to fulfill that desire, you only used it for your own self-benefit,” Yusuke said.

“If you have the ability to use multiple personas, you probably have the same talents as Joker,” Futaba said, “But because you went through life alone, the power you awakened to was filled by lies and hate… Still, you thought that was enough, right? That part, I totally get.”

“You excelled at everything over us… yet that was the one thing you lacked,” Yusuke said.

Akechi stared at them wide-eyed. They… They understood? Maybe it was only partly but… it was better than nothing, right?

Ryuji turned his head towards Akira. “Alright, let’s go back and get that callin’ card ready! We’re gonna take Shido down. What’re you gonna do?”

“It’d be a problem if you kept getting in our way. Wanna come along and help settle the score?” Ann asked.

And now they wanted him to… to join them? No, he couldn’t be hearing that right. Even after everything he had done, they were giving him a second chance… That was more than he had ever given any of his victims. “Are you all idiots? You should get rid of me… if you don’t want me getting in your way. You all are truly beyond my comprehension.” 

Footsteps came from behind him, loud and heavy as they hit the floor. He watched as everyone’s eyes went wide. Why? He turned back and…

It felt like his heart was going to stop. It was beating way faster than it should be. It was racing, racing, r a c i n g in his chest. On the other side of the room staring back at him was… himself or himself in Shido’s eyes. The cognition looked almost exactly like him except for the eyes. God, he couldn’t tear his gaze away from its eyes. They were just so empty and lifeless.

“Akechi?” Ryuji asked.

“Another one? Wait, is he…” Yusuke trailed off.

“That’s Shido’s cognitive version of Akechi!” Morgana said,

The cognition chuckled a horrible, grating laugh. Akechi wanted it to stop so badly. There was nothing inherently unpleasant about it but it made his head feel like it was being stuffed with cotton and squeezed. Time seemed to freeze as his doppelganger pulled out a gun and pointed it directly at him.

“I’ll deal with the rest of you later,” Cognitive Akechi said, voice sounding so monotone and flat. Everything about him just seemed so… empty. So devoid of anything, emotion, hope, life… It was as if he was nothing more than an empty shell of a person. “Captain Shido’s orders. He has no need for losers. Well, this just moves the plan up a little. He was going to get rid of you after the election anyway.”

“What?” Akechi’s world shattered. He wished he could just plug his ears and not listen. After everything he had done for Shido, he planned to kill him. To just dispose of him as he did to everyone else in his way. It felt like the floor was collapsing beneath him or the sky was falling down on him. The worst of it was that Shido was Akechi’s main motivation for everything. All of his actions were meant to lead to his endgame of disgracing Shido for all to see but Akechi? He was nothing more than a tool to Shido, just a means to an end.

“Did you truly believe you’d be spared after all the murders you undertook? Don’t tell me… Were you actually feeling good about having someone rely on you for once? Oh, by the way, the captain says it’s time you receive retribution for causing the mental shutdowns.”

“What the hell, man?” Ryuji demanded angrily, “That bastard’s the one who put him up to it!”

Akechi shakily stood, gritting his teeth and the pain from earlier was reignited in his legs. Any sort of pressure made him feel like his legs might break at any moment. It was a miracle he was able to stay upright. “I see… I was wondering how he would protect himself if I used my power to tear through his palace. Turns out you’re how. So he’s making a puppet kill me… sounds like something he’d do.”

The cognition nodded as if it was something that was expected. “That’s right. I’ll do anything. But look at yourself, you’re the true puppet.” As he saw Akechi’s look of shock, his face warped into something truly insane looking. His eyes widened, pupils dilating and his mouth locked into an almost painful looking smile. How was it possible for it to look so similar and not at all like him at the same time? “You wanted to be acknowledged, didn’t you? To be loved? You were nothing but a puppet from the very beginning.”

Ryuji clenched a fist. “You little!”

“So this… is how Shido thinks of Goro Akechi,” Makoto said with a grimace, “It’s… It’s too horrible!”

“It’s still not too late! We can change his heart together!” Haru said, “Even if he’s your father. No, because he’s your father!”

“What’s all this nagging about? Want me to take care of you first?” Cognitive Akechi asked as four shadows appeared behind him.

“No… He’s not alone! He has shadows too?” Ann asked.

“You know what? I’ll let someone volunteer to take his place. Who knows, you might delay his death. You guys are all about doing things for others, aren’t you? Oh, that’s just the same as me. I’m going to take all the blame for our captain. I’ll die for him too.”

“This is what Shido thinks of Akechi-kun, even after making him help with the murders?” Makoto asked, already knowing the answer.

The cognition tilted his gun towards the phantom thieves. “Here, I’ll give you one last chance. Shoot them.”

“I was such a fool…” Akechi said. He pulled the gun out and aimed it at Akira, the movement was almost reflex at this point. He closed his eyes, remembering all the other times he had done this very same thing.

“Yes, that’s the you our captain wishes to see,” the cognition said cockily.

Akechi shook his head. “Don’t misunderstand. You’re the one who’s going to disappear!” He turned suddenly, way faster than he should have given his injuries, and shot the gun directly into the cognition’s abdomen. The kick of the gun ran through his arm, almost knocking him off his feet.

Cognitive Akechi fell to one knee, clutching his stomach. The real Akechi stumbled as he pointed his gun toward the partition wall emergency close button. Before he could even think about it, he fired again. The glass casing shattered and fell to the ground.

An alarm started blaring. “The watertight bulkhead door has closed. All personnel within the partition wall evacuate at once,” the ship’s pa announced. 

Akira, realizing what was happening, yanked Akechi to the other side of the wall by the wrist just as it was about to slam shut. The wall began to close when-

Akechi saw the shocked looks on their faces before he even registered what happened. His hand reached for his stomach and he looked at it. It was stained with his blood. The cognition had… shot him. Finally, pain blossomed in his stomach and he could no longer stand. The only reason he didn’t collapse onto the floor and hit his head was that Akira and Makoto had rushed over to him, guiding him gently to the floor where he lay. He stared up at the ceiling blankly, his mind working a mile a minute trying to understand what happened. He was… so close to getting out alive and so close to making amends. He let out a breath shakily and closed his eyes, thinking he was close to death then.

Akira shook him tenderly. “Akechi! Akechi! Wake up. We have to… oh god, we have to get him to the real world. Injuries are always better there… maybe just maybe he could survive if we can.” 

“Can we move him?” Ann asked, moving over to him as well.

“He’s gonna bleed to death! We have to try!” Futaba shouted, tears brimming from her eyes, “I can’t lose anyone else!” She had brought up a screen of his status. His vitals were dropping and he was probably going to go into shock soon.

Akira, Makoto, and Ryuji put their hands on either side of the boy and tried to lift, eliciting a groan of pain from him. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I know it hurts,” Makoto said.  
Ryuji shook his head. “We can’t move him…”

Akira couldn’t just leave him there to die though. “Okay… uh, Akechi. C’mon, you have to get up. We’re gonna get you out of here but you can’t fall asleep now! Focus all of your energy on trying to stay awake. You can lean on us but if you start to fall asleep, I will make you walk alone. I don’t care if you can hardly stand, I will make you walk.”  
Akechi shook his head but opened his eyes. “I’m so tired. I’m going to die here. You might as well just accept it.”

“No!” Akira refused, “I won’t let you die here! You’re going to be okay; you’re going to live, but you need to stay awake, okay?”

“Joker…” Haru said, “Joker… It’s okay.”

“You know already, don’t you?” Akechi asked, his voice sounding raw and strained as if it was painful to just speak, “You know I’m going to die here. There’s no point in trying to change that. I don’t… I don’t wanna go kicking and screaming. I’ve done enough of that in my lifetime already.”

“I’m not leaving you here.”

Akechi laughed a bitter, humorless laugh. “You don’t have to. Just… stay with me, okay? Just until I… you know. I don’t want to die alone.”

Tears ran down Ann’s face. “Akechi… Why? Why would you do something like that even though you knew you would die?”

“Heh, if you guys die then… who would be there to change Shido’s heart? I couldn’t trust myself… not to kill him. No matter how much I want to change, I’ll always be a killer at heart.”

“That’s not true,” Futaba said, “It doesn’t matter what you’ve done in the past. You can always start over.”

“Bit late for that, huh? I wish I had met you all sooner… We could have been friends in another life. Fate is a cruel thing, isn’t it?” Akechi said with a forced smile. Just talking felt like someone taking a razor blade to his vocal cords but he kept straining himself to speak.

“We’ll get that bastard for you,” Ryuji said bitterly, “I can’t effin’ forgive people like him. He just hurts whoever the hell he wants and gets away with it!”

“I would give anything to see the look on his face when you deliver the calling card. Oh, how satisfying that would be,” he lamented, “Oh well, it doesn’t matter anymore I suppose.”

“Even on your deathbed, you’re so calm and resigned,” Yusuke said.

“Of course. I’ve prepared for this every minute of my recent life. Part of my assassin training was learning when and how to die… I always knew that this could happen anytime, and I accepted it, embraced it even.”

“That’s so horrible,” Makoto said, “He trained you on how to die…”

Akechi sputtered, coughing up blood. Death was marching ever closer, he could feel it already. Makoto moved to wipe the blood away from his cheek almost maternally, staining her grey gloves red. “Akira, you’re the only one who’s never let me down before. Thank you.”

“Don’t thank me,” Akira said. Akechi had never heard him speak this much at once and certainly had never heard his voice sound so raw and emotional.

He closed his eyes. “You guys are total outcasts from society and yet you have more of a place than I do it seems. Well, anyway, goodbye. I’ll… I’ll say hi to Wakaba and… Okumura for you.”


End file.
